Hong Kong’s women stand on brink of history, as place in T20 World Cup global qualifier beckons
- The women’s team have never progressed beyond the regional round of qualifying for the global tournament
- But victory over the United Arab Emirates on Friday in the semi-finals of Asian qualifying would change that
Hong Kong have never made it to the global qualifier of the Women’s T20 World Cup, they are one game from changing that in arguably the biggest game in the history of the city’s team.
Kary Chan’s team face the United Arab Emirates on Friday in the semi-finals of the Asia regional qualifier, with the winners guaranteed a spot in the next phase.
Thailand, who beat Hong Kong by 43 runs in Wednesday’s final game in Group B, take on Nepal in the other encounter in Malaysia.
“It’s a fantastic opportunity,” Andy Cottam, the Hong Kong head coach, said. “There’s no better advertisement for women’s cricket than winning competitions or qualifying for global tournaments.”
Despite losing to Thailand, Hong Kong’s bowlers kept things tight for significant periods of the first innings, limiting a strong batting line up to 24 for one in the first six overs.
After the powerplay, opener Nannapat Koncharoenkai took advantage of some poor bowling to score a flurry of boundaries in a knock of 75 that put Thailand in the driver’s seat. In response, Hong Kong could only manage to score 78 runs in their 20 overs.
“We know we haven’t executed well against the better teams and we have dominated against the teams ranked lower than us,” said Cottam, adding his side made mistakes in the field.
“Ninety to 100 [runs] would have been a good score for us to chase, but we didn’t have players on the rope defending boundaries that should have been ones. Against the better teams, we have to protect the boundaries and attack in the inner circle.”
Lapses against Thailand notwithstanding, Hong Kong’s bowling unit is arguably more consistent, settled and versatile than ever before.
Kuwait, who were expected to challenge Hong Kong for a spot in the semi-finals, experienced that first-hand, getting bowled out for 26 in a crucial group stage fixture.
In addition to taking all 10 wickets in fewer than 13 overs, Hong Kong did not concede a single boundary in a near-flawless fielding display.
On Friday, they will have to be similarly frugal against a UAE top order that boasts the imposing trio of Esha Oza, Theertha Satish, and Kavisha Egodage, all of whom have more 1,000 runs in their international careers.
“We will attack [with the ball] but we know UAE can be explosive at the top of the order so we have to mindful that the run rate doesn’t creep away in the powerplay,” Cottam said.
With the bat, much will rest on the shoulders of Mariko Hill, who has top-scored for them in the tournament with 77 runs in four innings. Hill has formed a successful opening combination with Natasha Miles, putting together partnerships of 70 and 38 against Myanmar and China, respectively.
With rain forecast, there is every chance the fixture will be curtailed and decided by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern Method. The toss, therefore, could be crucial, with conventional wisdom supporting the idea of bowling first to exploit the advantage the DLS equation often affords to chasing teams.
Cottam though is just focused on what his side can control.
“It is a huge day,” he said. “There’s no hiding from it. If we play well on the day, we’ll go through.”
